Teachers Wanna Get Paid

The Texas Association of School Boards and the Texas Association of School Administrators released a joint study yesterday revealing how much teachers are making across the state -- and for the first time, Region XI (which would be Fort Worth) has the heighest average salary, at least for the 2006-'07 school year. And that whopping amount: $46,933 -- which is a couple thou higher than the $44,615 statewide average. In previous years, says the study, Regions IV or X (Houston or Dallas, respectively) had the highest weighted average salary. Nonetheless, says Mary Barrett, TASB's assistant director for compensation services, Fort Worth and Dallas are still the two most competitive regions in the state, with Houston coming in third.

Keep in mind, it's not a complete survey: 1,031 public school districts were asked to participate in the survey, but only 744 districts responded. Notes the survey, it "includes 94 percent (289,783) of the estimated total population of teachers in Texas public schools." Still, there's no disputing its upside: Teachers are better paid now than they were last school year, with salaries up 6.9 percent from 2005-'06. As the Houston Chronicle notes this a.m., "That's more than triple the 2 percent increase that most teachers have seen for each of the past six years." As a former DISD student, there's no way I could have done that math. --Robert Wilonsky